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Iran utters 'readiness' to sign NPT: ElBaradei

Legislation in US Congress seeking sanctions

AFP, Tehran
Iran has expressed its "readiness" to sign the additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) allowing tougher UN inspections of its nuclear facilities, IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday after talks with a top Iranian official.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he had also been assured by Hassan Rowhani, the secretary of the Supreme Council on National Security, that Tehran would also seek to answer a number of pressing questions over its nuclear activities.
"I was assured by Rowhani that the Islamic Republic of Iran will clarify all the outstanding issues for us to be able to verify all aspects of its nuclear activites," the IAEA director general said in a joint appearance with Rowhani.
"He expressed the readiness of Iran to sign the additional protocol," ElBaradei said, adding that
Rowhani again reiterated "apprehensions" over allowing unhindered inspector access and its implications for Iranian sovereignty.
"I made it very clear that all these apprehensions are unfounded. The protocol is never meant in anyway to compromise state sovereignty, dignity, security or technical development. That is not the purpose of the protocol," the IAEA chief, who is in Tehran for a day of talks, told reporters.
Despite the Iranian assurances, ElBaradei said "there are a number of outstanding issues and technical issues that we need clarification on." He added: "I hope we will be able to clarify these issues and get a satisfactory answer."
In his own brief comments, Rowhani said Iran did have "a certain number of apprehensions" over the additional protocol, but he added: "I am not pessimistic".
The IAEA has given Iran until October 31 to answer questions on its nuclear program. It began an
intensive round of inspections on October 1, and ElBaradei has revealed that military as well as civilian sites have been visited. He has also said the deadline will not be extended.
Washington accuses Iran of trying to develop nuclear arms and has branded it part of an "axis of evil", along with the Iraq of Saddam Hussein that it said held weapons of mass destruction, and North Korea, which has claimed it is making atomic bombs.
Meanwhile, a resolution introduced Wednesday in the US Senate urged Iran to abandon its alleged nuclear weapons program or face the threat of United Nations sanctions.
The measure introduced by senators Dianne Feinstein and Jon Kyl give Tehran two weeks to cease its alleged efforts to produce nuclear weapons and to come into compliance under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or face the risk of UN sanctions.